Lights Out
by Fishchick
Summary: Maria uses the elevator. Written for the 30screams community on LJ, theme 2: In An Elevator. Thanks to korinacaffeine the beta queen.


The elevators doors seemed to take ages to open. Bursting through them as soon as the width would allow, Maria immediately turned and began awkwardly jamming the "CLOSE DOOR" button with the hand that was holding a steel pipe. Her other arm hung numb at her side. The doors finally closed and she staggered back in relief to lean on the wall. It had been a close call; she had been so focused on fighting the nurse in front of her that she hadn't been prepared for the two that came up behind.

Taking a deep, hitching breath, Maria let it out slowly. "Fuck," she said out loud, and the thin, whispery sound of her voice made a coil of fear curl deep in her gut. She was messed up pretty badly. Each breath felt almost crunchy, her left arm was rubbery and useless, and her right eye was swelling up and blurring her vision on that side. These were just the major injuries; there were likely more cuts, scratches, and bruises hidden underneath their blanket of pain.

If she could get out on the street and to the apartment where she kept her stuff—she was always very careful to not say that she lived there, because who really lived in Silent Hill?—she could get some med-kits and be fine. So she lurched forward onto her own feet again and pressed the button for the Lobby.

The elevator had begun its herky-jerky descent when the lights flickered spasmodically, causing Maria to wince. With a final blink, they went off completely and the elevator froze. Maria opened her mouth in the dark, but closed it when she realized she couldn't think of anything sufficiently foul to say. Reaching a hand out to the wall to orient herself, she carefully maneuvered down to the floor. Seated with her legs straight out in front of her, steel pipe in her lap, Maria began to think.

Chances were the power would come back and everything would be fine. She just needed to wait, which was easier said than done. The lights had been out for a minute tops, and she already felt like an eternity had passed. She wondered if it would be possible to get the doors of the elevator open and crawl out, even if it was between floors. However, if the entire hospital was dark, she'd be wandering around blind and injured, which would actually be worse than the situation she was in now.

Perhaps someone would come looking for her. She almost immediately discounted this idea. Who would come? Maria was confident that she'd be mummified in there before James would even notice that he hadn't seen her for awhile. Other than him, there was nobody. She saw people at a distance sometimes, but was careful to avoid them—unlike James, who was always talking to them and pestering them with questions. Maria knew trying to get information from the "outsiders," as she thought of them, was useless. Part of the reason people stayed in Silent Hill was that they hadn't figured it out. That was just, you know, the way it worked.

Except for her. She wasn't certain as to why she was in Silent Hill, but she knew that she wasn't like James or the other outsiders. If she tried hard, she could remember things from the life she lived before, even if sometimes she remembered other things that didn't seem to match up right, like things about James. Why should she know things about James when she had just met him? However, she wasn't really part of the town either, like the nurses and monsters. Sometimes she thought that the only person in town who was similar to her in this way was Pyramid Head, but that idea made her skin crawl so much that she didn't contemplate it deeply.

In any case, it didn't matter; the air felt thick and hot, and she wanted the fuck OUT of this elevator.

The light blinked briefly, and Maria felt a ray of hope that quickly became a stab of despair. Then she froze, cocking her head in the dark, straining to hear. She could almost hear something kind of towards the top of the elevator door, which made her think that perhaps that part was still on the floor she'd left. The screaming started so abruptly that Maria actually recoiled in surprise. She sprung awkwardly to her feet as the sound continued: not the sound of a nurse or creature, but the sound of a person, probably a woman. Maria could feel the hair stand up on her arms and with her good hand she unconsciously clenched the pipe rhythmically. "What the fuck?" she hissed.

How could someone scream that long, she thought sickly, and just when she though she would start screaming herself, the sound was sharply cut off. Maria again strained into the darkness, twitching nervously, waiting to see if the screams were truly over and dreading that they might return.

When the lights returned and the elevator dipped into action, Maria screamed herself, a hoarse little cry of surprise and shock, and nearly dropped the pipe. Recovering herself, she wiggled the fingers of her bad arm restlessly, overwhelmed by adrenaline and ready to dash out of the elevator.

They opened onto a mercifully empty lobby, and she looked around wildly before dashing out of the building, her fear overcoming her injuries. She stopped for nothing, even pain, until she was on the other side of a locked door in that apartment where she didn't live, but kept her things.


End file.
